Recipe is adapted from the cookbook “Eat your Vegetables” by “Arthur Potts Dawson”. the only change I did was not placing a slice of smoked salmon since I m not sure if I could eat it or not. But rest of the recipe was good enough for me to try.

Tomorrow, Eid al-Adha, is a holly day for Muslims. Eid Mubarak to all brothers and sisters around the world. May Allah help those who are in need of and accept our worship and dua.

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 globe artichokes, trimmed and stalks removed

2 tbsp butter (I used olive oil)

3 tbsp olive oil

1 lb 12oz spinach, stalks removed

3 tbsp vinegar

4 large free-range eggs, at room temperature

4 slices of smoked salmon

Salt and pepper

preparation

Put the artichokes in a saucepan of salted boiling water and cook for 13-15 minutes depending on their size, until tender- there should be the faintest resistance when you pierce the base with a small sharp knife.

Melt the butter with olive oil in a large saucepan, add the spinach and saute over high heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.

Add the vinegar in saucepan salted boiling water. Crack an egg in to cup and pour it into the water and watch it sink quickly to the bottom but immediately form a white protective covering around the yolk- salt and vinegar help to set the egg white. Lift the poached egg out with a slotted spoon. When cooked to your liking: 3 minutes for a runny yolk, 5 minutes for fairly firm. Keep warm while you cook the rest of the eggs in the same way.

Place each artichoke on a serving plate and fill with a quarter of the spinach. Sit a warm poached egg on each, top with a slice of smoked salmon, gring over plenty of pepper and sprinkle with salt flakes.

I always loved the Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Eastern and everything about them especially decorations and table settings. At last one of my friend from US send me some pictures about each and I was waiting the Christmas to come closer to post those beautiful pictures.

Pictures below belong to my precious friend Frances from Georgia,US. The two Halloween photos are from Frances’ friend Linda who loves decorating.

The Thanksgiving and Christmas settings are from Frances’ home. The dishes used in both cases are some that belonged to her Mom. They were given to her Mom by her Dad in the 1940’s and She is lucky being able to use them.

Christmas is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Most Christians and non-Christians celebrate this day on December 25. Different countries around the world have different ways to celebrate this holiday. But there are some common things like Christmas tree, decorations, Christmas dinner, gifts, Santa figure, holly wreaths, ornaments, Christmas cards, reindeer, gingerbread houses and cookies in almost every country.

Halloween or Hallowe’en also known as Allhalloween, All Hallows’ Eve, or All Saints’ Eve,is a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows’ Day. It initiates the triduum of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed believers.Within Allhallowtide, the traditional focus of All Hallows’ Eve revolves around the theme of using “humor and ridicule to confront the power of death.”

According to many scholars, All Hallows’ Eve is a Christianized feast initially influenced by Celtic harvest festivals, with possible pagan roots, particularly the Gaelic Samhain. Other scholars maintain that it originated independently of Samhain and has solely Christian roots.

Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (or the related “guising”), attending costume parties, decorating, carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted house attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories and watching horror films. In many parts of the world, the Christian religious observances of All Hallows’ Eve, including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead, remain popular, although in other locations, these solemn customs are less pronounced in favor of a more commercialized and secularized celebration. Because many Western Christian denominations encourage, although most no longer require, abstinence from meat on All Hallows’ Eve, the tradition of eating certain vegetarian foods for this vigil day developed, including the consumption of apples, colcannon, cider, potato pancakes, and soul cakes. (from wikipedia)

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated in the United States and Canada as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada. Several other places around the world observe similar celebrations. Thanksgiving has its historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, and has long been celebrated in a secular manner as well. (from wikipedia)